


Another Blade

by blueteak



Category: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Genre: Espionage, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 06:35:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16383149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueteak/pseuds/blueteak
Summary: Maggie's been spying on Vortigern since he took power. She's always wanted to be searching for Arthur instead.





	Another Blade

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jedibuttercup](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedibuttercup/gifts).



Towers were built and towers flared and burned. Fires took trees took settlements took villages took peoples. The old families survived. 

They survived rampaging beasts from the northern the southern the eastern and the western reaches of the world, some natural and some called into being through powers old or new.

Not all members of the old families grew old, of course. Maggie wasn’t sure she ever would.

It was true that she would never drip blood into a brothel and be squealed on by the Born King. She wouldn’t be called upon to prevent heads from rolling should Vortigern actually be able to make them roll. Nor was she valuable enough to Vortigern to ever be sacrificed, as some whispered Elsa had been. Maggie's blood was old and powerful, yes, but it wasn’t dear to him.

Still, she was a tool working against him. One hidden in plain sight, unremarkable. As ordinary as the eating knife she set out with his meals every evening. Only if the knife slipped, as it always felt on the verge of doing, it would be her blood spilled, not his. 

Or so Bill reminded her every time she clenched her fists hard enough to draw blood on the palms of her hands while she described the cruelties she witnessed. A lecture and some blood were a small price to pay for being able to show her feelings, to let her mask drop so fast it hurt.

Maggie didn’t bridle at Bill’s reminders of the danger she was in, not any more. Those reminders had been part of the routine since she was small, since she had found a way to distract those searching for him as he fled what had been Uther’s court. 

She’d told the Black Legs hunting Bill that her friend Catia was missing. She had tacked on the wobbly lip, but the fear had been real. Not for Catia, who she had last seen safe with her father. No, it was Catia's father she was afraid of, and what he would do to anyone who opposed his rule or dared to whisper what had been said out loud in council chambers before Uther's fall.

So Maggie had feigned restrained hysterics to lead the Black Legs away from Bill, even persuading them to noisily search the rubble for Catia as far away from Bill as she could. That ruse had convinced Bill, hidden behind a bit of crumbling rock that had once been part of Uther's stronghold, of her allegiance, her ability to think quickly, and her connections. And her reward? Instead of living in a cave and searching for little Arthur with Bill, as every child worth her salt would want to do, she had stayed in the castle and played hide and seek with both Catia and Vortigern. 

The games with Catia had eventually ceased, but the one she was playing with Vortigern hadn’t yet ended. Another thing she hadn't left behind was her desire to disrupt barges with Bill and live in a cave while searching for Arthur, though she’d long since ceased voicing these desires. While she relished not having to keep her feelings about Vortigern and his court bottled up--her fear for the people, for Catia, the need to know when it was best to smile or not to smile, when it would be suspicious not to look disapproving--she was no longer a child and she knew that asking to leave Vortigern now wouldn't look like a wish for adventure. It would look like a member of the resistance risking the flow of intelligence. She wouldn't betray her people, herself, her family, or Bill, no matter how many beheadings and castle searches and tower-buildings she witnessed, each time not quite believing it had ever been or could ever get any worse.

Tonight, though, in her relief to let one mask slip (it had taken Bill longer to escape this time, and they'd had to wait months to meet again in person), she let the other fall as well. 

And what was worse, she couldn't even remember what it was she'd said that had given her desire to escape Vortigern's castle away. Surely not something like "I wish I'd been there," when Bill described the raid that had led to his capture. One minute Bill had been listening, amused at some of her descriptions, silent and understanding about the rest. And then he'd looked at her with tenderness and sympathy, the way he used to when she'd begged him to take her with him after he'd gotten her report. This was Bill, she was safe as could be, but knowing where you may have slipped up was just as important as not slipping up. Knowing she didn't know was going to drive her mad.

She was still so lost in trying to remember that she was shocked when Bill took her hand, bloody though she’d made it. She spoke before he had a chance.“I'm sorry, the way I’ve carried on tonight, you’d likely not think I'd be capable of keeping my money at a card game, let alone working with you.” 

Bill appeared ready to speak. Maggie dropped her eyes, knowing Bill would give her the gentle phrases he’d used since she was young to keep her out of the cave and in the castle. 

Silence. Well, it had been a while since she’d even hinted at wanting to join him on his adventures, so maybe he had forgotten the way this talk went. 

She looked up, mask back on and ready to tease him into remembering. 

Instead, he was looking at her admiringly. “Anyone playing cards with you would be a fool to bet against you,” he said. “And so would I.”

Maggie smiled. Had she been about three years younger, she would have joked with him, said something like "So, we're off to the cave, then?"

This time, she didn't want to ruin the moment. They were both exhausted, but exhausted and daring to hope, now that Arthur had been found. Instead, she said "And so is Vortigern. I just wish I could tell him what a fool he's been."

Bill squeezed her hand lightly, then stood to go. "You will," he promised.


End file.
